What Sort of Team Player Are You?

Richard Brimble of UNDERSTANDING & LEARNING LTD explains what makes a great team and how there are two types of team members.

In this video Richard explains:

What Makes a Great Team
How to Tell if Your Team Contains Blue Tits or Robins

If you would like to find out what else was discussed in this webinar, you can watch the replay Managing Change in the Contact Centre next

Video Transcript:

What Makes a Great Team

In really emotionally connected, great teams, ideas come from open conversation because the teams believe and trust one another. Your choice to share your ideas is something determined by the norms and beliefs of your culture.

Are You a Tit or a Robin?

One thing’s for certain, great teams don’t include robins. Are you surrounded by blue tits or robins?

In the UK, we used to deliver milk to doorsteps in bottles with aluminium foil on. Biologist Alan Wilson studied the speed of learning and how quickly birds extracted cream from beyond the foil. He identified that blue tits learnt much faster than robins.

But why? Robins were territorial, solitary, and had no mechanism to learn as a group. Blue tits love teamwork, they welcome outsiders, they love flocking. It seems that when you flock, you learn much faster.

So highlight the robins, help them improve, but show them how their behaviour hinders your success. Most importantly, get flocking.

This video was recorded when Richard Brimble was a panellist on our 2022 webinar ‘Managing Change in the Contact Centre‘

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